The Philips CD-i: Forgotten for a reason

So I saw Luke’s post on Wednesday about his Neo Geo Pocket Colour, and that got me to thinking about another relic from gaming’s past. Anyone remember this?

No, of course you don’t, because it didn’t stick around long enough for people to remember the thing. That, my friends, is the Philips CD-i, technology based on a short lived partnership between Philips and Nintendo in the 1980’s and released in 1991. It was, to be honest, way ahead of its time. It had been created to be a cheaper alternative to gaming PCs at the time, by removing features like the hard drive and monitor (seeing as the TV was the monitor, obviously). Even missing such features, it still played interactive CDs, audio CDs and even V-CDs, a precursor to the later DVD format.

Sounds pretty cool, right? After all, the Playstation didn’t come out till 1994, and Nintendo themselves weren’t using discs until 2001 with the Gamecube. And V-CDs! Ok, they were only playable on the CD-i itself, but games consoles weren’t capable of playing DVDs until the Playstation 2 in 2000. On paper, that’s impressive.

I bring it up because we had one of these, way back in the 90’s. I remember my dad bringing it home, even though he didn’t really understand it. It was quickly installed in my sister’s room, hooked up to her tiny portable TV, and I couldn’t be peeled away from it. This probably upset my sister more than I can remember. I was probably blocking out the sound of her complaining by shooting things in Mad Dog McCree.

Mad Dog McCree! I remember being utterly amazed by it, as it was an FMV (Full Motion Video) title. You would roll up into a Western town, where you were charged with saving the Mayor’s daughter by taking down the titular villain and his pals. I loved it, because you shot things on the video, and it actually responded! Nowadays a child would look at it, snort in derision, and turn back to the ultra real graphics of Call of Duty or something. Those kids don’t know what they’re missing out on.

*insert kids these days rant here*

When I wasn’t playing that, I was playing Surf City, a mini game laden disc that was set in small town 60’s America that introduced me to the awesomeness of the Beach Boys (yes! Licensed music!), and an educational title that let me create whole storybooks on my screen which I CANNOT remember the name of. If anyone can, I’d love to be reminded.

So if I liked it, surely others did too, right? Then why is it so widely derided as an awful console? Well, for one, there were the controllers. Check them out:

Ugly as sin, right? And even though there were wireless versions (I remember us having one, LIVING IN THE FUTURE) they were horribly, horribly designed, and felt flimsy and cheap. Not a good start.

Plus, there was the availability of games. The CD-i had a grand total of 138 titles to choose from, compared to the Playstation’s 2,418. Of those 138, a great deal were either educational titles or board game adaptations. Ouch.

Of course, I couldn’t mention the CD-i without talking about THOSE Nintendo licensed games. Hotel Mario. Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon. You’ve seen that stuff on Youtube before, I don’t need to pollute your eyes with it again.

So yes. Fare ye well, Philips CD-i. You were ahead of your time and in some cases, way behind the boundaries of taste.